Education:
Research
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Politics in the Andean region; social and indigenous movements; new
political parties and the new left in Latin America;
democratization.
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Professor
Collins has authored several book chapters and articles on Andean
politics and indigenous movements and parties.
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Currently Professor Collins is working on a comparative analysis of
the Morales and Correa administrations in Bolivia and Ecuador
respectively that explores the reasons for higher levels of
political polarization in Bolivia and the greater obstacles that
Morales has faced in carrying out his political program.
She is also preparing her dissertation on the Pachakutik
Political Movement in Ecuador for publication.
Courses
Comparative Politics; Political Development; Latin American
Politics; Latin America in World Affairs; Radical and Utopian
Politics
About
Prof. Collins grew up in Westchester, near New York City.
She lived and worked in Central and South America for
more than eight years.
For two years in the 1980s she worked in the war zones of
Nicaragua with the peace and justice organization, Witness for
Peace, trying to change U.S. foreign policy and end U.S. support
for the contras.
Subsequently she worked for four years in Quito, Ecuador
with the Latin American Council of Churches.
Professor Collins and her Argentine husband met at 11,000
feet above sea level in the Bolivian Andes and they are still
short of breath.
Together with her husband and daughter she loves to bike on the
Green Circle, hike, backpack and travel.
She began teaching at UWSP in 2007 having previously
taught at Colgate University in upstate New York.